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Journal of the science of food and agriculture
Oct, 2019;99 (13): 5858-5869.

Evaluation of corm origin and climatic conditions on saffron (Crocus sativus L.) yield and quality.

Loriana Cardone, Donato Castronuovo, Michele Perniola, Nunzia Cicco, Vincenzo Candido
Author Information
  1. Loriana Cardone: School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
  2. Donato Castronuovo: School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy. ORCID
  3. Michele Perniola: Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures, University of Basilicata, Matera, Italy.
  4. Nunzia Cicco: Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council, Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy.
  5. Vincenzo Candido: School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
PMID: 31206680 DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.9860

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Crocus sativus L. is an autumn-flowering geophyte belonging to the Iridaceae family, known for the medicinal and coloring uses of the spice from its dried stigmas. It is cultivated in countries with different pedoclimatic conditions. This paper reports on a two-year research project carried out in the Basilicata region of southern Italy on the question of how to obtain the highest performance from saffron. It considers corms from three different geographical origins - 'Sardinia', 'Abruzzo' and 'Kozani' at three different cultivation sites, namely Castelgrande (40° 46' N, 15° 26' E, 781 m a.s.l.), Genzano di Lucania (40° 50' N, 16° 08' E, 344 m a.s.l.), and Villa d'Agri (40° 22' N, 15° 48' E, 638 m a.s.l.).
RESULTS: The highest yields were obtained in the second year by the combination of 'Genzano di L. × Sardinia' and 'Castelgrande × Abruzzo' with 28.1 and 23.9 kg ha of dried stigma, respectively. Saffron quality was determined according to ISO 3632, which classifies the samples into three categories depending on the crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal content. Results highlighted that the highest values for coloring (242.1) and bitterness (97.7) were achieved in Genzano di L. during 2013. Moreover, the crocins were correlated positively with stigma yield and air mean temperature but negatively with safranal.
CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated, through principal component analysis (PCA), that the cultivation site with higher air temperature and without excessive rain during the flowering period generated the best stigma yield with high-quality traits. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Keywords

crocin rainfall safranal spice temperature

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MeSH Term

Carotenoids
Climate
Crocus
Cyclohexenes
Flowers
Glucosides
Italy
Plant Extracts
Quality Control
Rain
Temperature
Terpenes

Chemicals

Cyclohexenes
Glucosides
Plant Extracts
Terpenes
Carotenoids
safranal
crocin
picrocrocin
Journal Article

Word Cloud

Created with Highcharts 10.0.0Ldifferenthighestthree40°NEsldistigmasafranalyieldtemperatureCrocussativuscoloringspicedriedconditionssaffroncultivation15°Genzano×1qualitycrocinairBACKGROUND:autumn-floweringgeophytebelongingIridaceaefamilyknownmedicinalusesstigmascultivatedcountriespedoclimaticpaperreportstwo-yearresearchprojectcarriedBasilicataregionsouthernItalyquestionobtainperformanceconsiderscormsgeographicalorigins - 'Sardinia''Abruzzo''Kozani'sitesnamelyCastelgrande46'26'781 m aLucania50'16°08'344 m aVillad'Agri22'48'638 m aRESULTS:yieldsobtainedsecondyearcombination'GenzanoSardinia''CastelgrandeAbruzzo'28239 kg harespectivelySaffrondeterminedaccordingISO3632classifiessamplescategoriesdependingpicrocrocincontentResultshighlightedvalues242bitterness977achieved2013MoreovercrocinscorrelatedpositivelymeannegativelyCONCLUSION:studydemonstratedprincipalcomponentanalysisPCAsitehigherwithoutexcessiverainfloweringperiodgeneratedbesthigh-qualitytraits©2019SocietyChemicalIndustryEvaluationcormoriginclimaticrainfall

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